WMTW-TV reports the Washington County Sheriff's Office received multiple complaints about the scam. Police say Facebook users receive messages from people pretending to be their friends. The accounts offer a $12,000 grant through the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agency if users send $3,000.

LIMINGTON, Maine - Officials have ordered a Maine town's fire department to "stand down'' because the group's rescue gear is outdated and doesn't meet national standards.

The Portland Press Herald reports the Limington Board of Selectmen released a statement Sunday explaining that the Limington fire department's gear is more than 10 years old, and it doesn't meet the National Fire Protection Association's standard. The standard is required for safety concerns and applies to jackets, pants, helmets and boots.

BIDDEFORD, Maine - A Maine university is beginning a series dedicated to discussion of controversial topics with an event about the work of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.

Peterson is a provocative cultural critic affiliated with the University of Toronto who is popular with some right wing activists because of his attacks on subjects such as "politically correct'' culture and feminism. The University of New England is hosting the event on Monday at 6 p.m. on its Biddeford campus.

The federal government is providing more than $58,000 in housing grants to an American Indian tribe in northern Maine.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded the money to the Aroostook Band of Micmacs via the Indian Housing Block Grant program. Republican Sen. Susan Collins says the money will promote affordable housing in Presque Isle.

The Micmacs are the northernmost tribe in the state. Collins says the HUD grant will help provide access to more "safe, affordable housing" for members of the tribe.

A review of state governmental finances shows that lawsuits involving Republican Gov. Paul LePage have cost Maine at least $110,000 since last fall.

LePage sued Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills in October for joining a legal effort in support of protections for young immigrants facing deportation. So far, Maine's general fund has directed about $45,000 to a firm representing the governor in recent lawsuits against Mills.

Officials with a pair of northern New England banks say the institutions have merged in a transaction valued at about $45 million.

Company officials say the merger of Granite Bank of New Hampshire and Bangor Savings Bank of Maine has been approved by regulators and shareholders. Granite Bank is merging into Bangor Savings Bank under the terms of the deal. The transaction is set to close on April 6.

Across the globe, about one in 10 women have endometriosis. It’s a painful, chronic disease that can be difficult to treat.

Maine writer Abby Norman was first diagnosed with it seven years ago, but she says the disease was never really explained to her, and as it’s progressed she’s struggled to convince doctors that the pain she feels is real. Norman says it’s a problem for women that has a long history in medicine, and she’s written a book about her experience, Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain.

DURHAM, N.H. (AP) _ Experts from the University of New Hampshire are teaming up with several New England health care providers to offer education and support in rural areas for pregnant women with substance abuse disorders.

Republican Maine State House candidate Leslie Gibson has announced that he is dropping out of the race for the Maine House District 57 seat, representing Greene and Sabattus.

Gibson came under fire for his Twitter remarks about two students who survived the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. He wrote that one of the Parkland survivors was a "skinhead lesbian," and the other a "bald-faced liar." Gibson later apologized to one of the students.

A lawyer for laid-off workers is demanding that Republican Gov. Paul LePage reopen the Downeast Correctional Facility in Machiasport immediately, but no action is expected before the first part of next week. Justice Michaela Murphy ordered the facility be reopened Wednesday, but she left it up to the Department of Corrections to determine staffing and the number of inmates.